Locking a Jig to a Biesemeyer style rail?

[David Kammer]

So, in an attempt to avoid trying to reinvent what some of the more brilliant and experienced minds on this forum may have already tried, I thought that I would put this question out to the group.

I have a saw with router table built into the extension and a Biesemeyer style fence and rail, more or less like this one:
TableSawRouterTable.jpg
http://www.vandegrift.com/MyWebPage/...outerTable.jpg

For the router table, I'm planning on using an Incra Ultralite fence mounted on a piece of plywood like this:
incra-ultralite1.jpg
http://www.fine-tools.com/incra-ultralite1.jpg

What I'd like to do is find some kind of a smart way to clamp the plywood mount to the rail system to that I could index the plywood off the tube for position and ideally squaring. The table is not very big, so I'm going to have to take the router fence off most of the time when Im using the tablesaw. I know I can do this off the saws miter slot if I need to, but working of the rail seems much more flexible. Thanks for any ideas!

[Andy Fox]

One option is to build a U-shaped saddle for the fence which is clamped to it on the ends which overhang the table. (Or drill and tap threads into the fence if you dare.) You could then attach the plywood mount to that at table level on the router side using aluminum angle stock or a hardwood cleat.

[Lee Schierer]

I built this cover for my fence to allow me to use the Grip Tite feather boards in their ripping mode.lsfence1.jpglsfence2.jpg You can see complete details here. Fence Cover

[Alan Lightstone]

I put 6 holes in my extension table, put captive T-nuts underneath (epoxied them in place), and can install / remove them that way with electric screwdriver.

Takes longer than I'd like ( a couple of minutes), but it does index accurately with the 6 holes.

[Denny Rice]

Dave,

Go to the video at Newyankee.com.This week the video is all about "jigs". One of the jigs is a raised pannel cutter used by Norm, and how to attach it to the Beismeyer fence, its alot lot the picture Lee posted above, might gice you some ideas.

[Jim O'Dell]

You could add some blocks to the outside edges of the plywood platform that the Incra fence is attached to and then use a pair of these to lock it to the Biese Fence (or any fence for that matter):fence clamps.jpg This is a picture from Rockler and is the brand I bought. About $15.00 or so on sale. There is another style of the same thing on the market for a couple dollars less, but I think these are better. These could be used for other jigs too. And you could even use a couple of large C clamps, small bar or parallel clamps, or any number of other style clamps you have on hand to do the same thing and save even more.
The only other idea I can think off would be to add some T-track to the top of the fence and use some Toggle clamps to put downward pressure on the plywood. The first idea would be much cheaper, but this one may be more versatile. I've thought about adding a row to the top of my Biese fence, drilling and tapping holes in the top of the fence to accept the track. Trick would be to find some T-track that would end up level with the tops of the fence. The track I use, Peachtree Heavy Duty style, would end up being proud of the fence by about 1/8". I would have to use 2 rows so the jigs would sit level. Hmmmmm.....That's not a bad idea. (just thinking out loud here) Jim.

[Keith Outten]

David,

I own the 24" Ultra fence so I understand your wanting to use it on your table saw for the router table. However, the Bies fence is a very long moment arm and although it is very rigid it is probably not a good idea to connect one fence to another. If you add the flex from one fence to the second you will probably be unhappy with the result. When routing long, wide or heavy boards you can easily put more pressure on a fence than you expect and the flex would probably cause you nothing but heartburn.

Use the miter slot or fabricate a clamping mechanism to connect to the edge of the saw. You can always design either method to use the saw fence to index the router fence when you need to install it on your saw.

Just my 2cents.
.

[David Helm]

+1 on what Jim said. That's exactly what I use for my router fence.

[Lee Schierer]

Dave,

Go to the video at Newyankee.com.This week the video is all about "jigs". One of the jigs is a raised pannel cutter used by Norm, and how to attach it to the Beismeyer fence, its alot lot the picture Lee posted above, might gice you some ideas.

Here's how I cut raised panels on my Table saw

[John Lifer]

I've a PM2000, recently added router to the oem table. Built a fence, and added a vertical rail on the ts side of the fence. I use twp 6" clamps to hold the router fence to the beismeyer fence. This allows me to position the fences in position. As Normal, the Beis, locks down tight. Doesn't move. Not nearly as easy to fine adjust as the ultra fence, but it works. I can see you doing something like this for the ultra's base.

[Wayne Peterson]

image.jpgI have a Biesemeyer fence on my Unisaw, and have made several saddles for different purposes. The attached photos show two of them. One is a simple spacing guide when making repeated crosscuts. To avoid trapping the work against the rip fence and the fence of the Excalibur sliding table, the spacing guide doesn't sit far enough back to be opposite the blade. As a bonus, it also serves as a box to hold a variety of frequently-used small marking and measuring tools.

One of the saddles is integral to the fence for the router mounted in the extension table. I have a Bench Dog Pro-Lift holding the large Porter Cable router. There's also a small cabinet that encloses the router, reducing noise and enabling dust collection under the table. The saddle-mounted fence works very well. And I use Matthias Wandel's method to micro-adjust it. (http://woodgears.ca/table_saw/fence_micro.html) I have a dial indicator mounted in a magnetic base that sits solidly on the Pro-Lift. I can track adjustment down easily to a few hundredths of an inch.image.jpgimage.jpgimage.jpg

The fence was build from shop scrap, and is held to the Biesemeyer fence using De-Sta-Co clamps. Those apply sufficient clamping pressure to hold it solidly in place. It includes a channel that enables dust collection through the fence. And when I use it along with the dust control from the cabinet below the table, I get nearly no dust or chips on the table top or in the air. I use a foot switch to turn the router on and off, allowing me to have both hands on the work all the time. That's been so effective, I've not gotten around to adding a channel for featherboards. I do use a pair of magentic featherboards that hold fast to the Pro-Lift, and keep the work tight agains the fence

The photos should be self-explanatory and I like this much better than having to find space for a stand-alone router table.

[David Kammer]

Thanks for all the excellent ideas. I think I'm going to go with a solution like Jim suggested, with the ability to lock the whole thing down with C-Clamps when needed for heavier pieces to take care of the flex issues that Keith pointed out. I'll post pictures when im done.

[David Kammer]

IMG_2513.jpg

For anyone who's interested, here's the jig I ended up with. for light work it can hook to the tablesaw fence, for heavier stuff in can clamp to the the table directly. There are plywood rails in rabbets on each side to help prevent motion.

IMG_2514.jpgIMG_2515.jpg
I also wanted to make a place to store all of the accessories for the router table, so the jig has holders for the router wrenches, which ever collet I'm not currently using, the router height adjust wrench, the right-angle fixture, a couple of bits and the inset plates. I store the fence stop on the back of the fence.

IMG_2518.jpg
Best of all, when not in use it can hang out of the way under the router table.

So far it seems to work pretty well.